General
overview and instructions
This short course is intended for teachers and parents of
children from infancy through middle childhood as a resource
provided to you at no cost by Kansas State University. You study
and complete course assignments on your own. There
are
no grades
or other
forms of
official credit. Nor is any formal contact with the course
instructor built into the course. I
welcome any comments you might have about your experience here. In
addition to reading the material, you will be asked to keep a
journal (click
here for journal instructions) for yourself. You will also
arrive occasionally at a page where I will ask you to provide anonymous
comments about your progress
and the effectiveness
of the course. Visit the FireWorkscourse
evaluations page to read
what students in that course have said about their experience.

I'm Positive: Growing up with self-respect is a "conversational"
course comprised of more than 230 brief web pages linked together
in a conversational format. Because information is provided in
brief, informal segments, I use the phrase "Electronic
Flashcards" to describe how information is managed.

As I wrote this course, I imagined
that you the reader were seated across from me at a
kitchen table. Although we don't have the opportunity of a full
exchange, the use of a journal will enable you to engage in
an internal dialogue. This format is the same approach I used in
the highly successful FireWorks:
Anger management in adult-child relationships course.

Unlike other educational websites, this strategy does not provide
a quick study. I suggest that you consider a more leisurely approach,
bookmarking and returning to the site
to complete
the
course
if
you find
it interesting
and useful. There is too much material and activity here
to read at one sitting.
If you are taking this short course hoping to complete
a certification requirement, contact your agency to see if they
are
willing to
supervise your work. You are taking this course anonymously.
I have no way to confirm that you have studied this material.